Obama’s Desperate Speech in Boston

By: Elizabeth Marion

The Massachusetts Senate race can make or break President Obama’s hopes for health care reform to pass. Predictably Obama tried to help gain support for the democratic candidate, but he has lost much, if not all, of his star power. His push for health care reform has been a disaster (although it has overcome many difficult hurdles), his attempts to stimulate the economy have failed, and those in his own party are now demanding that he get back the money he used to bail out banks. People are beginning to see through the rhetoric and look at the facts, and they are not very happy about the facts.

Massachusetts was not ready for Martha Coakley and they were not ready to listen to President Obama give a speech a few days before the Tuesday election. They knew they were only going to get rhetoric, no substance, and they were right. At one point during the speech the crowd didn’t seem interested in listening to what he had to say at all. After an outburst from an anti-abortion activist who was quickly escorted from the building the audience was too busy shouting various chants for another two or three minutes to listen to the President.

Once the President did start talking again it was just more of the same…and that was not good for Martha. It was more of the blame game and more of the lies. He pointed out his fulfillment of one of his campaign promises. Considering the fact that he just broke several big campaign promises it probably wasn’t the best idea to bring up campaign promises. Perhaps, like Nancy Pelosi, he finds it amusing that the American people have been lied to and cheated on. The voters obviously did not.

He also spoke in the speech of what a great leader Martha had been and said that she was the kind of leader he needed. That statement may have been a poor reflection on Martha. After all, we have seen more than enough of the leaders Obama has appointed to positions of power. There’s tax cheat Tim Geithner, Communist Van Jones, Mao fan Anita Dunn, let’s-give-full-rights-to-terrorists Eric Holder, I’m-not-exactly-sure-where-the-half-a-trillion-went Ben Bernanke, and we-don’t-like-people-with-the-wrong-perspective Rahm Emanuel. We have had enough of the President’s leaders. If Obama really wanted to help Martha gain support he could have at least given her one good compliment.

As the President started talking about Martha’s importance to the passage of health care reform, he talked about all the spin that had entered the debate. He accused people of defending insurance companies and the status quo by taking advantage of the health care crisis. If people are taking advantage of the health care crisis they may just be taking cues from Rahm Emanuel. Or maybe they’re just following the President’s lead. The stimulus bills, the bailout, cap and trade, and health care reform are all solutions to what he has presented as a crisis. This administration has repeatedly taken advantage of people’s fears relating to the economy, climate change, and health care. Obama’s short lecture on “do as I say, not as I do” was not helpful to Martha. She might have had a better chance if Obama had stayed in the White House and let her fend for herself.

And finally the President threw in a little something that the speech just wouldn’t have been the same without-Bush bashing! Obama started talking about his efforts to get taxpayer money back from the banks that had been bailed out…all because of the former administration! Bush did start the bailouts, but Obama continued them once he took office. He’s spent billions and billions of dollars bailing out businesses that he deemed too big to fail, but he was doing what was necessary. Bailing out businesses is only a bad thing if you’re George W. Bush.

President Obama’s speech did not help Martha very much and the blame game for Scott Brown’s lead began before the election ended. The White House blamed Martha and Martha’s campaign blamed the White House. The record clearly shows that President Obama can no longer use his star power to help fellow democrats win elections.He campaigned for the democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey and they lost. He campaigned for the democratic candidate in Massachusetts and she lost. The country is facing a lot of problems and it’s about time for Barack Obama to stop campaigning and focus on his job.